Wrist watch strap



Sept. 26, 1944. w. H. PARTRIDGE 2,359,148

WRIST WATCH STRAP Filed Nov. 19, 1941 40 42 e3 INVENTOR WILLIAM H. PARTRIDGE I IO BY XW" M ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. '26, 1944 WRIST WATCH STRAP William H. Partridge, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Samuel Friedman, doing business as Brite Specialty 00., New York, N. Y.

Application November 19, 1941, Serial N 0. 419,682

45 Claims.

This invention relates to a wrist watch strap and has special reference to the provision of a stitchless Wrist watch strap.

Wrist watch straps are made up to comprise two sections, a tongue section and a buckle holding section, the tongue section being provided at one end with a watch attaching portion, and the buckle holding section being provided at one end with a. watch attaching portion and at the other end with a buckle attaching portion. The watch attaching portions and the buckle attachin portion are made by looping or folding under the respective ends of the strap sections and by stitching these looped or folded under ends to the bodies of the strap sections. This alone would leave the underneath side of the strap in an unsightly state and the strap is, therefore, finished either by stitching to the strap sections at the underneath faces thereof separate covering leather strips, or by stitching thereto leather strips integral with the folded under portions. The buckle holding strap section has also to be provided with keepers for the tongue section and these also have to be locked in position by stitching at appropriate places the plies of the buckle holding strap section.

The prime object of the present invention centers about the provision of a wrist watch strap which is of a stitchless construction. According to the present invention, both sections of the strap, namely, the tongue and buckle holding sections, are made of single strips of material, the watch attaching portions and the buckle attaching portion being fashioned so that these portions may be formed by mechanical interlocking and without the use of any stitches. According to the present invention, the tongue keepers are also fashioned and interrelated with the buckle holdin strap body so that the tongue keepers may be mechanically locked to the body of the buckle holding strap section without the use of stitching.

. A Wrist watch strap is thereby produced which possesses the following advantageous features:

(a) tearing or breaking away of the strap por tions clue to the pulling out or wearing away of the stitches is thereby wholly obviated; (b) a neater Watch strap is produced due to the fact that the thickness is reduced, particularly at the edges, to a single ply, and due to the further fact that the unsightly stitches are eliminated; (c) the watch straps maybe made with greater economy because of the reduction of the material used and because of the elimination of stitching operations; and (d) the novel construction of the wrist watch straps made according to the present invention imparts thereto a novel and attractive design and appearance.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing objects and such other objects as may hereinafter appear, the present invention resides in the novel structural principles of the Wrist Watch strap as herein described and sought to be defined in the appended claims.

In the appended drawing:

Figure 1 is a top plan View of the wrist watch strap showin its attachment to a wrist watch;

Figure 2 is a top plan view thereof showing the parts in buckle attaching relation;

Figure 3 is a bottom plan view of the two sec tions of the strap detached one from the other;

Figure 4 is a plan View (with the intermediate part broken away) of the strip or blank from which the strap tongue is fashioned;

Figure 5 is a perspective View of one end of the strap tongue depicting one stage in the manner of forming the watch attaching end thereof;

Figure 6 is a view of an annular strip or blank from which the keepers are formed in the assembling of the strap;

Figure 7 is a plan View of a strip of material or blank from which the buckle holding strap section is made;

Figure 8 is a perspective view of parts of the strips or blanks shown in Figures 6 and 7 and depicting the first step of assembling these parts;

Figure 9 is a perspective View of the blanks or strips of Figures 6 and 7 showing a further stage in assembling the same; and

Figure 10 is a perspective view of the assembly of Figure 9 showing the finishing stages of the assembling thereof.

From this brief description of the figures it will be seen that all of the strap parts, namely, the tongue blank shown in Figure 4, the buckle holding blank shown in Figure '7 and the keeper blank shown in Figure 6 are so constructed that they are capable of being assembled by mechanically interlocking the parts and Without any stitching to produce the watch strap product shown in Figure l, 2 or 3.

The wrist watch strap of the invention comprises the stitchless strap tongue section generally designated as 20 and the stitchless buckle holding section generally designated as 22, the tongue section having a folded under end portion 24 interlaced with and thereby anchored to the tongue strap body 26, and forming a watch attaching loop; and the buckle holding section 22 having opposite folded under end portions 28 The stitchless strap tongue section 2|] com prises a single strip of material madejup from a blank such as illustrated in Figure 4 of the drawing. For anchoring the watch attaching portion 24 of the tongue section, the said end portion 24 is provided with a terminal piece 44 and the body 26 of the tongue 20 is provided with the pair of slots 46 and 48, these being related so that the terminal piece 44 may be threaded through the slots 46 and 48 and become interlaced therewith as depicted in Figures 5 and 3 of the drawing. The end 56 or the terminal piece 44 is enlarged or made wing shaped (anchor shaped) so that after the terminal piece is threaded through the slots, the end portion willbe securely anchored in position (see Figure 3).

By means of this construction the tongue 26 is, therefore, formed of a single ply material, for example leather, and the watch attaching portion 24 thereof which is adapted to be received by the usual bail end pin of a watch such as 52, is fashioned without any stitching operation. The mechanical interlocking depicted'in Figure 3 is concealed when the strap is on the user's hand, as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawing, and the watch attaching end of the tongue section is suitably ornamented by the interlaced portion of the terminal strip 44 as shown particularly in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawing.

The buckle holding strap section 22 also comprises a single strip of material made from a suitable blank such as shown in Figure '7 of the drawing. If desired, this section of the strap may be made in the same way as the tongue section of the strap, with the exception that both ends instead of only one end are folded or looped and interlaced with the strap body. However, I prefer to interlace the opposite end portions of this strap section in such a way that the keepers 40 and 42 may also thereby be locked in the desired positions shown in Figure 2 or 3 of the drawing.

The body 32 of the strap section 22 is, there-.

fore, provided with two pairs of slots, one pair being 54 and 56 and the other pair being 58 and 66, and the watch attaching end 28 is provided with a pair of slots 62 and 64 which are adapted to register with the slots 58 and 60 when the end portion 26 is looped or moved to a folded under condition. The opposite or buckle holding 7 picted in Figures 8, 9 and '10 of the drawing.

The buckle holding portion 30 (after the buckle is placed in position) is formed by folding the terminal piece 66, and the watch attaching portion 28 is formed by folding the opposite end of the blank so that the slots 62 and 64 register with the slots 58 and 60. The elongated terminal piece 66 (which is substantially narrower tion forms the final anchoring means for securing the parts in position.

By means of this construction, therefore, the buckle holding section is essentially made of a single ply material, the Watch attaching and buckle attaching portions thereof being formed without any stitching. The watch attaching portion thereof is adapted to receive the other bail end pin of the watch 52, as is illustrated in Figure 1 of the drawing; and by reference thereto as well as to Figure '2 of the drawing, it will be seen that only the interlacing parts of the terminal strip 66 are visible from the outside or top face of the strap, imparting thereto an attractive new design and appearance.

The two tongue keepers 40 and 42 are made from the single annular and substantially rectangular blank 12 shown in Figure 6 of the draw- 7 ing. This single blank is used to produce both keeper sections 46 and 42. This is accomplished by assembling this blank 12 and by interlocking the same in the manner depicted in Figures 8, 9 and 10 of the drawing. The two sides of the blank 12 are folded under the strap body 32 (as viewed in Figures 8 and 9 the folding is over the strap body), and when the terminal piece 66 is laced through the slots 54 and 56, the folded under sides of the blank 12 are locked in position. When the interlacing of the terminal piece is completed, both keeper sections 40 and 42 are securely held against any displacement as will be clear by reference to'Figures 9 and 10 of the drawing, the resulting structure being shown in Figure 3 of the drawing. The double keeper sections are, therefore, made from a single piece of material and are secured in position without any stitching operation. 7

The manner of making the stitchless wrist watch strap of my present invention and the advantages in the construction produced will in the main be clearly apparent from the above detailed description thereof. By the elimination of stitch ing, the tearing or breaking away of any of the strap portions due to the pulling out or wearing away of the stitches is eliminated. A neater watch strap is produced due to a number of factors. Firstly, both sections of the strap are essentially single ply sections. The strap is, therefore, thin and particularly at the side edges, thus imparting to the strap a neat appearance. Secondly, the stitches are eliminated, imparting a better finish and neater appearance to the strap. Thirdly, the interlaced parts present a novel and, therefore, distinctive appearance. As is clear from the drawing, the assembling of th parts is a very simple procedure and th straps may he, therefore, made more economically. The economy is largely due to two factors: first, the fact that less material need be used in making a finished strap, and, second, the fact that the costly and wearisome stitching operations are eliminated.

While I have disclosed the preferred form of the watch strap construction, it will be obvious that changes may be made in the structure without departing from the spirit of the invention defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a wrist watch strap, a stitchless buckle holding strap section comprising a single strip of material forming a buckle holding strap body and having opposite folded under end portions, one end portion forming a buckle attaching loop and the other end portion forming a watch attaching loop, slots formed in the body of said strap section adjacent each end thereof, one of said end portions having slots registering with th contiguous slots in the strap body, and the other of said end portions having an elongated terminal piece which threads through the slots at one end and then through the registering slots at the other end of thestrap body, the said ends being thereby anchored to the strap body.

2. In a strap, a stitchless buckle holding strap section comprising a single strip of material forming'a buckle holding strap body and having a folded under end portion forming a buckle attaching loop, a tongue keeper held in the fold of said end portion, the said end portion having a terminal piece which is interlaced with the body of said strap section beyond said tongue keeper whereby the end portion is anchored to the strap body and the tongue keeper is locked in position. 1 3. In a strap, a stitchless buckle holding strap section comprising a single strip of material having a folded under end portion forming a buckle attaching loop, a double tongue keeper providing two keeper sections made of an annular piece of material having its two sides folded in overlapping relation under the strap body, the said end portion havin a terminal piece which is inter laced with the body of said strap section at a region between the two keeper sections whereby the end portion is anchored to the strap body and the two keeper sections of said double tongue keeper are locked in position.

4. In a strap, a stitchless buckle holding strap section comprising a single strip of material having a folded under end portion forming a buckle attaching loop, a double tongue keeper providing two keeper sections made of an annular piece of material having its two sides folded in overlapping relation under the strap body, slots in the body of said strap section in the region between the keeper sections, the said end portion having a terminal piece which is threaded through said slots and thereby interlaced with the body of said strap section whereby the end portion is anchored to thestrap body and the two keeper sections of said double tongue keeper are held in position.

WM. H. PARTRIDGE. 

